Tour of Denmark: Greipel roars into Randers on stage one

Grabbing his seventeenth UCI-ranked win of the season today, André Greipel powered to victory on the opening stage of the Tour of Denmark. The Lotto Belisol sprinter raced the finish in Randers just ahead of Alexander Kristoff (Katusha Team), Theo Bos (Rabobank Cycling Team) and Sky’s Luke Rowe, grabbing both stage success and the first leader’s jersey in the race.

“Francis De Greef was pulling the peloton all day to catch the breakaway. It was pretty tough with the wind,” said Greipel. “The last 700 meters were uphill…we had a really nice lead-out train and we could finish it off. The team brought me up to 200 meters to go, and then I started my sprint.”

World road race champion Mark Cavendish and his Sky team tried to contest the sprint but the Manxman was held up by a crash approximately three kilometres from the line. He didn't fall, but lost his chance.

“I'm happy about my performance today,” said runner-up Kristoff. “I was in a perfect position for the final sprint…I was behind Greipel and in the end I tried to pass him, but he was simply too strong and he deserved to win.

“Anyways I'm satisfied with the second position, the team worked great and I will try again for sure, starting with tomorrow's stage.”

They built a nine minute lead after 57 minutes of racing, but chasing by Lotto Belisol and Team Sky brought this steadily down. They were eventually caught 14 kilometres from the end. Chris Juul Jensen (Saxo Bank Tinkoff Bank), Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky), Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Michael Reihs (Christina Watches-Onfone) then clipped away, but were hauled back in soon afterwards.

The sprinters’ teams controlled subsequent attempts to break their hold on the race, but Cavendish’s Sky riders were foiled when a big crash delayed their top rider.

Greipel had no such problems and was strongest in the final push for the line, clocking up yet another win in a very big season for him.

“We'll see what happens the next few stages,” he said, talking about the strategy going forward. “We wanted to get a win, and we succeeded. Now we're going to try to bring Lars Bak in a good position for the GC. That's what we'll do in the upcoming stages."

Kristoff pledged to try again, saying he hopes to clock up a victory before the race ends and that he has an important advisor.

“My teammate Freire is helping me with some suggestions and, during the race, his help is precious. I think with some more races he will be ready for World Championships, his real goal.”